软细胞乐团

Soft Cell are an English synth-pop band who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consisted of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball until the latter's death in 2025. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their platinum-selling debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

In the United Kingdom, Soft Cell had twelve top 40 hits, including "Tainted Love" (No. 1), "Torch" (No. 2), "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye", "What" (both No. 3), and "Bedsitter" (No. 4). They also had four top 20 albums between 1981 and 1984. The duo split in 1984 but reformed in 2001 to tour and release a new album. They held a reunion concert in London on 30 September 2018, stating it would be their last live UK performance as a duo but that they may still perform abroad and record together.

Soft Cell's songs have been covered by several artists, including David Gray, Coil and Nine Inch Nails. Their track "Memorabilia" earned recognition for the band as pioneers of the synth-oriented techno genre. The duo have sold in excess of ten million records world-wide.

History

Mutant Moments and "Memorabilia"

Soft Cell were formed in 1978, after Almond and Ball had met at Leeds Polytechnic in the previous year. According to Ball, the duo were brought together by their common interest in writing "catchy but twisted pop songs" that were "like Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire but a bit more lyrical." Their initial efforts at recording resulted in an EP titled Mutant Moments, released in 1980 and which was funded by a loan of £2,000 from Dave Ball's mother and made with a simple two-track recorder.

Soft Cell's next recording, "The Girl with the Patent Leather Face", appeared as a contribution to the Some Bizzare Album, which included Depeche Mode, the The, and Blancmange. The duo ultimately signed to the Some Bizzare label, backed by Phonogram Records. Their first single, "A Man Could Get Lost" b/w "Memorabilia" on 7" and "Memorabilia" b/w "Persuasion" on 12", was produced by Daniel Miller who founded Mute Records, "Memorabilia" was a success in nightclubs, but did not enter the UK singles chart.

"Tainted Love"

After the chart failure of "Memorabilia", Phonogram Records allowed Soft Cell to record a second and final single in an attempt to score a chart success. The band opted to record a cover version of "Tainted Love", an obscure 1965 Northern soul track originally released by Gloria Jones (the girlfriend of Marc Bolan at the time of his death) and written by Ed Cobb of the Four Preps.

Released in 1981, Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" was a No. 1 hit in 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, where it was the second best selling single of 1981 after selling 1.05 million copies (a total which increased to 1.35 million copies by August 2017).

In 1982, "Tainted Love" became a No. 8 single in the United States and went on to set a Guinness World Record at the time for the longest consecutive stay (43 weeks) on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song's popularity developed slowly, needing 19 weeks to enter the US Top 40. The A-side of the 12-inch single of "Tainted Love" actually featured a two-song medley, with "Tainted Love" blending into the Motown classic "Where Did Our Love Go" (originally recorded by the Supremes in 1964).

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

The duo's first album, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, hit UK No. 5 and further explored the now-trademark Soft Cell themes of squalor and sleaze. "Seedy Films" talks of long nights in porno cinemas, while "Frustration" and "Secret Life" deal with the boredom and hypocrisy associated with suburban life. A companion video titled Non-Stop Exotic Video Show was released in 1982 and with videos directed by Tim Pope. The video generated some controversy in Britain, mainly due to a scandal involved with the "Sex Dwarf" clip.

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret garnered two additional hits: "Bedsitter" dealt with the loneliness and lifestyle of a young man having recently left home to live in a bedsit while partying hard. "Bedsitter" reached No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1981. The song was highly acclaimed in a retrospective review by AllMusic journalist Ned Raggett who wrote that it "ranks as one of the best, most realistic portrayals of urban life recorded." The final single on the album, the ballad "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye", peaked at No. 3 in February 1982.

During 1982, the duo spent most of their time recording and relaxing in New York City, where they met a woman named Cindy Ecstasy who Almond would later confirm was his drug supplier (it was Cindy Ecstasy who introduced them to the new nightclub drug of the same name). Soon after "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" dropped out of the chart, Soft Cell released a brand new song: "Torch", a love song which was to prove the closest the band ever got to having a No. 1 hit with one of their own songs. The song entered straight into the Top 20 and peaked at No. 2.